Follow Me

Data Protection

FM radio stations picked up in Letterkenny with Tecsun PL-606

While staying over in Letterkenny (The Elms area), I did a scan of the FM band using the Tecsun PL-606 with its antenna extension positioned vertically. This is a high sensitivity DSP FM radio which picks up fringe FM stations normally only picked up by a good car stereo or roof-mounted FM aerial.

The following table has three sets of readings for each station. The first column is from an upstairs window facing North West, the second is another upstairs window facing South East and the third column is with the radio connected to a loft-mounted circular omnidirectional FM antenna.

For reference, the following is what to expect from the readings:

NA – Total static to barely understandable speech.

0dB – Noisy static, but speech still understandable.

1dB – Moderate hiss, speech is clearly heard.

2dB – Light hiss, unnoticeable with most music on internal speaker.

3dB – Light hiss during speech/silence only on internal speaker.

6dB – Hiss barely audible on internal speaker during silence.

12dB – Stereo sound with considerable hiss.

15dB – Stereo sound with hiss mainly heard during speech.

20dB – Light hiss in stereo, noticeable during speech/silence.

For a rough comparison to a typical FM radio, this Tecsun radio’s sound quality in stereo is roughly what a typical radio picks up in mono. Most stations with a reading below 10dB either give pure static or obscured by a nearby stronger station when tuned on a typical FM radio positioned in the same spot. For example Q Radio on 101.2MHz comes in perfectly clear on this Tecsun radio, but on another radio I tried in the same spot, the much stronger nearby station Today FM on 101MHz is instead picked up on 101.2MHz.

MHz

Station name

NE S/N

SW S/N

Loft S/N

88.2

RTE Radio 11

1dB

20dB

9dB

88.7

BBC Radio 27

28dB

10dB

28dB

89.2

RTE Radio 12

40dB

30dB

39dB

89.4

BBC Radio 28

2dB

20dB

14dB

89.7

RTE Radio 13

1dB

9dB

NA

89.8

RTE Radio 14

4dB

NA

8dB

90.1

BBC Radio 29

4dB

7dB

11dB

90.4

RTE 2FM1

6dB

21dB

17dB

90.9

BBC Radio 37

29dB

17dB

24dB

91.4

RTE 2FM2

36dB

21dB

35dB

91.6

BBC Radio 38

4dB

20dB

8dB

91.8

RTE 2FM5

NA

NA

2dB

92.0

RTE 2FM4

6dB

15dB

NA

92.3

BBC Radio 39

12dB

11dB

21dB

92.6

RTE RnaG1

4dB

20dB

21dB

93.1

Radio Ultser7

30dB

20dB

25dB

93.6

RTE RnaG2

44dB

29dB

40dB

93.8

Radio Ulster8

4dB

22dB

5dB

94.1

RTE RnaG3

NA

NA

2dB

94.2

RTE RnaG4

12dB

20dB

NA

94.5

Radio Ulster9

18dB

5dB

14dB

94.7

Highland11

6dB

10dB

NA

94.9

BBC Radio 47

30dB

12dB

NA

95.2

RTE Lyric FM6

1dB

6dB

1dB

95.4

Radio Ulster10

3dB

NA

3dB

95.6

BBC Radio 48

21dB

28dB

19dB

96.0

BBC Radio 49

20dB

1dB

19dB

96.4

Downtown10

4dB

NA

NA

96.6

Downtown15

19dB

27dB

19dB

96.9

iRadio NW16

44dB

22dB

23dB

97.4

Cool FM17

1dB

NA

0dB

97.8

Lyric FM1

20dB

25dB

18dB

98.3

BBC Radio 17

32dB

16dB

24dB

98.8

Lyric FM2

41dB

27dB

40dB

99.0

BBC Radio 18

7dB

22dB

12dB

99.4

Lyric FM4

8dB

20dB

1dB

99.7

BBC Radio 19

22dB

7dB

20dB

100.0

Today FM1

8dB

30dB

14dB

100.5

Classic FM7

30dB

21dB

30dB

101.0

Today FM2

34dB

24dB

43dB

101.2

Q Radio15

7dB

21dB

7dB

101.6

Today FM13

24dB

16dB

20dB

101.9

Classic FM17

25dB

12dB

24dB

102.1

Highland12

28dB

30dB

25dB

102.4

Downtown7

28dB

16dB

20dB

102.7

Radio RnaG6

3dB

3dB

NA

102.9

Q Radio7

23dB

16dB

19dB

103.3

Highland13

41dB

24dB

43dB

104.4

iRadio NW1

0dB

5dB

NA

104.5

Highland14

1dB

NA

NA

104.8

iRadio NE6?

NA

1dB

NA

105.0

Ocean FM18

3dB

10dB

0dB

105.3

Drive FM7

27dB

6dB

20dB

105.5

Today FM6

4dB

5dB

NA

106.3

Fresh FM7

31dB

17dB

27dB

106.9

Newstalk2

53dB

44dB

49dB

107.2

Newstalk6?

7dB

2dB

2dB

107.4

Newstalk1

9dB

34dB

25dB

Transmitter based on tuned frequency (? = Guessed)

Truskmore

Holywell Hill

Ballybofey

Fanad

Aranmore

Clermont

Derry

Brougher Mountain

Divis

Limavady

Finn Valley

Castlefin / Lifford Border

North Donegal

Inishowen

Dungannon/Enniskillen/Omagh

Donegal

Belfast

Barnesmore

Castlebar

The following are additional stations (including Cool FM above) with careful positioning of the radio to achieve the highest reading I could get. For Cool FM and U105, I positioned the antenna horizontally.